This week’s selection is “Props and Costume Armor: Create Realistic Science Fiction & Fantasy Weapons, Armor, and Accessories” by Shawn Thorsson and MAKE.
Cosplay, the hobby of making costumes based on media characters, has exploded in recent years for a couple of reasons. First, the presence in media of so many characters makes it tempting to attempt to duplicate, and seeing incredible cosplay on social media legitimizes and encourages participants. Secondly, there are so many ways to build quite elaborate costumes these days with new equipment and techniques.
The time-tested method of sewing a costume is certainly applicable here, but what about new making techniques? Is it possible to CNC mill parts of a cosplay outfit? How about laser cutting? Painting?
Could you 3D print a cosplay outfit?
The answer is certainly a big yes. But the question remains, “exactly how does one do this?”
That’s the purpose of this book. Thorsson takes the reader through a number of different making techniques that can be used to produce a near-professional cosplay outfit, and also for the production of cosplay accessories, like a science fiction ray gun, for example.
The specific techniques covered by Thorsson include:
- Sculpting
- Molding
- Casting
- Vacuum forming
- CNC
- Painting
- 3D printing and more
Thorsson focuses on the cheap, showing how you can use inexpensive and commonly available materials in projects that will be transformed into highly elaborate costumes of your own design.
The book provides a great deal of detail on the processes and techniques, and does so in a writing style that’s both entertaining and informative. As a result, this book is very highly rated by readers.
If you’re into cosplay and want to step up your game into more professional-appearing outfit and accessories, this could be a book of interest to you.
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Via Amazon
